The Darkness Returns Once Again
by Strata-chan
Summary: To understand this story fully, one must read Mela N.'s "The Darkness" series. This is the first chapter and I really don't mind what you write in my reviews.
1. Part One: The Reunion

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata

This is my very first fanfic and feel free to e-mail me your comments, suggestions on future chapters, and flames to rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com. To understand what is happening in my story, I recommend reading Mela N.'s the Darkness: Mother Night and Epilogues. I felt that the ending was a heartbreaker and needed to be continued. DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Ronin Warriors, so don't sue me! Also, I do not own the two characters, Kendy and Maurette. They belong to Mela N. Enjoy!

Part 1

The Reunion

It has been almost two weeks since the deaths of Sai and Rowen. Mia, Kento, Sage, Ryo, White Blaze, and Yuli have been mourning the loss of two of their best friends, but have learned to move on with their grief. Everyone believed that the two were no longer among the living, yet no one had ever been able to locate their remains. The whole group would go to the cemetery at least once a week to visit the empty graves. A memorial pool was built in the memory of Sai, and, even though this wasn't mentioned before, an astronomy club and section in the library was dedicated to Rowen.

Sage had taken all of this the hardest. He felt since he was out of control when Rowen and Sai were sent into the Demon's darkness that it was his fault that they died. Sage's friends tried everything to convince him otherwise, but he just refused to listen. For a while, Sage had sank into a depression that no one could bring him out of. After two weeks, Sage is finally starting to pull himself together.

It was late in the afternoon when the Ronins left school and decided to pay a visit to their deceased friends.

"Hey Sage, how are you doing buddy?"

"Fine, but I still feel like I could have fought harder----" 

"Whoa Sage! I thought we had already gone through this. There was nothing you could have done and besides, you were under the demon's control. I mean you were in a damn coma for a long time at the house!" Ryo interrupted.

"No I wasn't Ryo! My physical body may have been at the house, but my soul was up and about, killing my own friends! Yeah, I know that you have had your own little guilt trips, but you weren't the one who watched your best friends die and have no control over it!"

"Sage, get a grip! Why I outta-----"

Kento saw the approaching fight and stepped in between the two just in time.

"Look at you two! Fighting over this like two five year olds. Don't you think I care about Sai enough to grieve? My grief isn't taken out on my own friends, now grow up!"

Ever since Sai's death, Kento, unbelievable as it may seem, had become the peacemaker of the group. He felt that since he was the closest to Sai that he should take his place. After a few moments of silence, Ryo and Sage forgave each other. While they were walking, Ryo started to ponder to himself.

'If Sai and Rowen are dead, then how come we didn't feel their presence leave our souls. We are all bonded together through our armors, so when one of us goes through the pain of death, the other Ronins should be able to sense it. Oh I wish I knew the answers! If Rowen were here, he would be able to explain everything! What a waste. Even if Sage was out of control, I still feel like it was his fault.'

The fact that Ryo, or any of the others, didn't know is that neither Rowen nor Sai had actually died. They were living with two volunteers, Kendy and Maurette, that they had met at the hospital that they had stayed at for several weeks. Sai and Rowen had planned to start a new life here on the other side of the world and try to leave behind the anguish that had plagued them in Toyama. 

"Sai?"

"Hhm…?"

"Do you miss the guys at all? I mean, Sage and Kento are probably taking this real hard and I really want to see the guys again. It's been so long and from what I know, Sage is probably beating himself up over this."

"Kento's probably dying of hunger too. I hope they don't start to kill each other over our 'deaths', you know what I mean Rowen?"

"Yea. But you know, I kinda like it better back in Toyama. Even though I do have a slight crush on Maurette, the urge to see the guys is even stronger. I was thinking, maybe we could move back there."

"We can't let anyone else know though, because if we did, we'd be called the living dead for the rest of our lives." Sai said, jokingly.

"Can we arrange a trip to visit them tomorrow or the next day. PLLEEAASSEE?"

"Okay, Rowen! Jeez! I thought you were only like this when you have had too much sugar! Don't have a heart attack, now go to sleep! It's past midnight!"

"Good night Sai."

"Good night Rowen."

"Sai?"

"WHAT?"

"Do you think that we can take Kendy and Maurette with us and introduce them to the guys? I mean, they did help nurse us back to health."

"Sure, whatever you want. NOW GO TO SLEEP ROWEN!"

That night, Rowen and Sai slept peacefully, but it was another story at Mia's mansion outside of Toyama. Sage has had reoccurring nightmares of what happened that day…..

DREAM

Sage stood there as the demon called out in his mind, "Do it Sage, my son, give their souls over to me! Do it now!" 

Sage had no control over his actions. Using only the will of his mind, he forced Rowen into the cocoon of darkness first. The tentacles of some unknown creature wrapped around Rowen and as he was pulled into the blackness, he screamed out in agony as Sage stood, unmoving, in place. Next Sai was pulled away, never to be seen again. In his mind, Sage was screaming out to his friends, but his mind and body were two separate entities in the spirit realm. He felt as if his soul had been torn in two. Sage was now screaming at the top of his lungs. "NOOOOOOO!"

END OF DREAM

"Sage! Come on wake up dude!" Kento was shaking Sage and screaming at the top of his lungs, but Sage refused to respond. Usually Sage would wake up, but this time was different. Sage's kanji of wisdom was flashing wildly under his tangled hair. Then Ryo came with a bucket of ice cold water and dumped it all upon Sage. Sage awoke with a startled look upon his face and then started to bawl into Kento's chest.

"I-I killed t-them. Rowen, Sai, I k-killed them!"

Kento and Ryo gave each other skeptical looks, and both of them wondered if they should search for professional help for Sage. None of them slept well for the rest of the night.

(If you are wondering where Mia and Yuli are, Yuli is on vacation with his parents and won't be back for the rest of my story because he is so annoying, and Mia is on a business trip.)

Later the next day at Kendy and Maurette's house:

Rowen and Sai had made travel arrangements for the four comrades to board a plane that was bound for Toyama Airport and everyone was packing clothing and other necessary items for travel.

"Kendy?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen my toothbrush and hairbrush? I had them last night and now I can't seem to find them!"

"You can use mine! We have to leave here in 7 minutes to reach the airport on time!"

"Okay! If you say so!"

Outside of the house, Rowen and Sai were waiting by the navy blue Dodge Ram the girls owned.

"Man!" Rowen said impatiently, "We're going to be late if they don't hurry up dammit!"

"Rowen." Sai said soothingly, "You have got to trust them. They would never make us late. Especially for something this important."

"That's easy for you to say, Warrior of Trust!"

"SHHHH! Not so loud! We don't want them to know about our past, now do we?"

"Sorry Sai."

Kendy and Maurette came out of the house at the last minute and they sped off towards the airport as fast as they could go without being pulled over.

Meanwhile, back at Hana High School, Kento, Ryo, and Sage were eating lunch. Sometimes, people pestered them, wanting to know how the school's most trusting student and "Einstein" had died. Everyone had been told several times that they had a car accident while visiting some relatives, but some people were skeptical.

While eating lunch, a strange feeling overcame the three friends. This time, the sensation they felt wasn't one that would be caused by an evil presence, but one that felt very pleasant and welcoming. None of them realized that they would be reunited with their friends once more.

It was about 8:00pm when Sai, Rowen, Kendy, and Maurette reached Toyama's airport.

"It feels so good to be back in good ol' Toyama again, doesn't it Sai?"

"I'm not as thrilled as you are. I have many good memories here, and then there are the bad ones." Sai solemly stated.

"Hey! You're not alone there Sai, but we can't live in fear of the past anymore. We have to move on."

"I know. It's just really hard to forget."

"SHHH! The girls are coming." Rowen said as Kendy and Maurette walked up. "Did you two find anything that even relates to some form of transportation?"

"I called a cab for us to use, but it'll be kinda expensive." Kendy replied.

"Yeah. All of us will have to pitch in money to pay for it." Maurette added.

Rowen and Sai agreed, and walked after their two friends towards the taxi. While in the car, the group asked the driver where the nearest hotel would be located. Back at Mia's home, Sage, Kento and Ryo were in the midst of eating dinner. Kento had left the table early, saying he was full and yet he hadn't eaten much at all. Ever since Sai and Rowen had passed on, Kento had never been the same. Ryo thought that eating reminded Kento of Sai. Kento turned on the TV to a news-broadcasting channel in the living room. The anchors were frivolously talking about things that no one really cared about, so Kento aimlessly started flipping through the channels. Ryo sat at the table, wondering what happened to the friends that he used to know.

'Is it just me or am I becoming the introvert of the group. All Sage ever does is mope around because of his guilt trips and Kento has become so serious that I can barely stand to be around him and then there's me. All I ever do anymore is slowly drift off into my thoughts, with not a second thought of anyone's feelings. I would give anything to have those two back and for some reason, I think we can. Today I started to feel like Sai and Rowen's presence was slowly coming back into reality. I desperately want to tell Sage and Kento, but I'm afraid of what it might do to their mental stability. Ha! I am already beginning to sound like Rowen.'

While Ryo was lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice Sage get up from the table and leave the house. Not even Kento flinched when the door closed.

Sage felt like he needed to spend some time alone to think things over and to find his center once again. His icy blue eyes looked up to the stars and they reminded him of Rowen and how he would stay up at night just to look at them. 

"Rowen," Sage said to the sky, "I know you and Sai wouldn't want me to pout like this, but I need to have a sign from you guys or something. I feel like your guys' presence is still with me, but I watched you die in that spirit realm. I would give anything for you to be alive. Especially you Rowen. I miss our intelligent conversations that we had with each other. I know this is hard to believe, but Ryo's becoming the spitting image of you, Rowen. Always immersed in his thoughts. There's one thing that I need to tell Sai. If you can hear me, Sai, Kento needs your help desperately. He's reverting into himself. He's slowly stopping eating and he practically refuses to talk with anyone, other than himself. Please help him."

Sage went into a deep meditation and saw some sort of vision of Rowen and Sai. They were well and very close-by. Sage also saw two unfamiliar girls with them and wondered who they were. The first girl had hair that was a mix between auburn and blond and her eyes had a mystical feel to them. They made you feel like you were swimming in the ocean depts. Her complexion was fair and her body flowed like the steady river water. Her aura was clean and pure. There were no imperfections in it, which was very rare in humans. Sage somehow knew that her name was Maurette and that Sai was in love with her. 

Then he saw another girl who seemed to be quite outspoken at times. Her eyes were also blue, but they were even darker than the eyes of the other. Her hair was a mix between deep brown and blue hues, and she had lighter blue highlights in a few areas. They looked like comets among the darkness of space. She was a little thinner around the waistline than Maurette was and her skin had a slight tan to it. He soon picked up that she was Rowen's crush and that her name was Kendy.

Before Sage saw anymore, he snapped out of his trance. He stared into the nothingness for a moment, not believing those girls could be in love with Rowen and Sai. "They're dead, right? How is this possible?" Sage looked at his watch and realized he had been meditating for nearly four hours.

"Damn. The guys must be so worried about where I've been all this time. I better get back before they call the cops."

Sage then ran back to the house. Meanwhile across town, Sai, Rowen, Kendy, and Maurette were preparing for bed. Rowen was just too excited about the thought of seeing his friends again to go to sleep. He decided to stay up and read a book that he hadn't had a chance to finish yet. 

'Tomorrow I'm gonna see Sage and all the others again. I can't wait to see their faces when we come strolling up the porch and say hi. I bet Sage'll practically drop dead at the sight. I hope Kento doesn't kill Sai with one of those huge bear hugs of his. I just hope Sai will feel the same way. From what I've seen, he would have preferred to stay in America, as far away from his friends and old life as possible. It's just not like him. Oh well. Nothing can be done about Sai's feelings. I better get to sleep now like a normal person, otherwise it's going to be hell getting me up in the morning.'

With that last thought, Rowen slid under the covers of his bed and went to sleep.

The next morning was bright and cheery. Rowen awoke to the sweet smell of Sai's and Maurette's cooking. For once, Rowen didn't need to be shoved out of bed. He voluntarily got up and walked into the kitchen, or what the hotel called a kitchen. 

"Hey! The boy-who-sleeps-like-the-dead has awoken to join the living!" Maurette said with sarcasm in her voice.

"Ha Ha. Very funny. So, what's for breakfast?"

"Sausage and pancakes." Sai replied.

"Sounds good. Where's Kendy?"

"She just went out to explore Toyama a bit." Maurette replied.

"WHAT?? You let her go out all by herself?!? She could get lost, or kidnapped, or---"

"Slow down buddy! She'll be fine. Anyway, we were planning on paying our surprise visit to the guys a bit later today, so you might want to take off those smiley face boxers and put on some real clothes." Sai finished off the last part with a slight giggle.

"What's wrong with smiley faces?"

"Nothing. Just put some clothes on while I call Kendy on her cell phone and tell her to come back here before we go to visit." Sai replied.

Rowen then dashed out of the room while Maurette continued to cook and Sai called Kendy. Meanwhile, Kendy was enjoying a brisk walk in the sunlight when she noticed a group of three boys walking down the street. One had ash-blue hair and was wearing the most eye-catching orange shirt. The next had on formal clothing, a green vest and white dress pants with a white blouse underneath and his hair was a golden blond and it covered over his right eye. The last had jet-black hair that was about shoulder length and he was wearing an old, red sweater. Kendy had the strangest feeling about those boys. It was something almost magical. Kendy snapped out of her trance and realized that her cell phone was ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kendy. This is Sai. Look, you need to come back to the hotel room before Rowen has a heart attack. You should have seen the look on his face this morning when you weren't home! What he was wearing was even funnier. Imagine Rowen standing in the doorway with nothing on but a pair of smiley-face boxers!"

After that statement Sai started to laugh hysterically and Kendy heard Rowen yell in the background, "There is nothing wrong with smiley faces!!!!" Kendy couldn't help but snicker at the entire situation. She replied "Thanks for the, um, pleasant bit of information, Sai, and I'll be back at the house in about 15 minutes." Kendy then hung up her phone and called a cab. Down the street, the guys were shopping for some new clothes, amazingly. The only reason why they were out is because Mia had ordered them to buy some new clothes before she got back later on tonight.

"Man! I hate shopping for clothes. So many shops to choose from and so little time."

"Quit complaining Kento. Shopping isn't that bad." Sage replied.

"That's because you're part girl!" Kento snapped back.

Sage never heard the last thing Kento said because he found a shop that was perfect for his taste in clothing.

"Sage! Sage? What are you doing!" Ryo yelled.

"Watch out!" Kento said, "Once he finds a shop he likes, there's no taking him away from it until he buys out the entire store!"

This time said heard what Kento said and yelled, "I heard that and I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"That's enough!" Ryo yelled in frustration, "You two are acting like children! Let's go back to the house and eat something because the food is too expensive here in town. We'll come back as soon as we eat." 

Several hours went by and they never returned to the marketplace. Then Mia walked in the door and then……

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU GUYS TO GO AND BUY SOME NEW CLOTHES AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOUSE!!!!"

The guys looked at each other with the feeling of dread in their eyes. One, they forgot to get new clothes, which was plenty to piss Mia off. Then there was the other fact that the house looked like a tornado ripped through it.

"I LEAVE FOR ONE WEEK AND THIS IS WHAT I COME BACK TO!!!!"

Sage decided to run while he could, but he didn't get too far.

"OH NO, PRETTY BOY! YOU"RE NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS THAT EASILY!!" Mia screamed as she dragged Sage by the collar back into the living room.

"Come on, Mia----"

"DON'T YOU 'COME ON, MIA' ME LITTLE MAN!!"

Just as the Ronins were going to get their just desserts, they all heard a knock on the door.

Sage got up very quickly and opened the door, not bothering to see who it was because he was too busy worrying about Mia pouncing on him, said, "Thank you whoever you are. You just saved us from certain death at the hands of the tyrannical Mia Coji." 

"No problem Sage. The pleasure's all mine." Sage recognized that voice. 

"No. It couldn't be."

Sage then looked up and saw who was standing at the door and saw the face of his long-lost best friend Rowen!

"Wait. R-Rowen? I-is that r-r-really you? B-but I killed you! I watched you die with my own eyes!" At that statement, all the color in Sage's face drained away. He started to walk away at that point.

"Aren't you going to let us come in Sage?" came a voice with a distinct British accent.

With that, Sage stopped walking away and immediately passed out from shock onto the floor. Rowen, Sai, Maurette, and Kendy let themselves in. Kendy then remembered Sage from the group of boys she saw walking along the street earlier and she still sensed something was quite different about him. In the middle of her thoughts, Kendy was interrupted by someone's voice.

"Sage? Who is it?"

No answer.

"Sage?" everyone called his name this time. As they did, everyone, including Mia ran in to discover Sage passed out on the floor and 4 figures standing in the room. Mia then turned on the light and discovered who the figures were. Kendy recognized the rest of the boys from the same situation she remembered Sage from. Everyone had the same look of shock on their faces as Sage slowly regained consciousness. When he fully came to, he grabbed onto Rowen like he would never let go and started to sob uncontrollably.

"Rowen! I thought I had killed you! I thought I would never see you again! Where have you been all this time while we were left here to suffer! I've missed you so much! You too, Sai. I think Kento's finally recovering from his shock, so beware, he might just hug you to death."

Just then Kento spoke.

"Sai? Sai! I've missed you and your cooking so much!"

He then ran up and gave him a giant bear hug. Sai tried to squirm out of the vise Kento had him in, but all of his attempts were in vain. As he felt himself losing consciousness from lack of oxygen, Kento suddenly let go and Sai collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Sorry buddy. I've just missed you so much. You were the only person I could think about! Hey, who are those two girls you're with. They're cute."

"Don't even go there, Kento." Rowen replied to Kento's statement. "We'll explain what happened to us and who these girls are after a good night's rest."

Then Kendy whispered to Rowen, "What are they talking about? There's something you haven't told me, isn't there? Well, you can't keep it from me anymore."

"I'll explain later." Rowen responded.

" I'll remind you too."

Just then, Mia came out of shock and decided to tell the school tomorrow about the mistaken deaths of their two friends. Mia knew that the people in the school wouldn't take this very well, but this had to be done. Ryo had to be pushed into the other room by the guys and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Rowen and Sai. It was like he was staring at them like they were ghosts. Through all of this Mia had only one thing on her mind, and that was how she was going to get back at the guys for messing up her house.

To Be Continued…


	2. Part Two: Confessions and Memories

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata

Once again, I'm reminding the people who are reading this story that the plot would make a lot more sense if they read Mela N.'s stories. Again, I don't the Ronin Warriors, so don't sue me, please. Feel free to send comments, flames, suggestions for future chapters, etc. to [rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com][1]. Also, I took the idea of the infamous "smiley faces boxers" from another story, but I don't remember which. So whoever wrote that story, don't send me hate mail because I stole your idea.

(Sorry if the first chapter was a little blunt, but I promise the story will get better as it goes along. I'm not good at writing beginnings.)

Part 2

Confessions and Memories

Everyone decided that going to bed was the best option at the moment, since Ryo was not responding to anyone around him. He was so shocked at Rowen and Sai's appearances that Mia had to have Kento shove him up the stairs and into bed. After the door closed, Ryo was still in the same position, staring blankly at the ceiling of his room. Sai headed for his old room, while Rowen headed for his. Sai then noticed that everything had been cleared out of his room. At first, he thought about asking Kento why, but then he realized that Kento had thought Sai was dead. He tried falling asleep in the empty room, but it just didn't feel the same to him. Also, Kento's snoring didn't help either. Rowen, on the other hand, had no problem falling asleep. Sai couldn't help but notice that Rowen was just a little too comfortable here. It was like he was hiding something that he didn't want anyone else to know about.

While everyone was upstairs, Mia was preparing sleeping arrangements for Kendy and Maurette. After that matter was settled, Mia returned to her room and decided to do some research on ancient legends for her class tomorrow. She also had to think of a reasonable excuse to cover up Rowen and Sai's mysterious appearances. She also wondered where these new girls came from and how did they know Rowen and Sai? Did they know about Talpa and the Dynasty Invasions? While Mia was pondering about those questions, she didn't notice the one legend that slipped by on the computer screen that was completely undeciphered. It was then downloaded onto a disk along with the rest of the translated myths for her class. 

After she was done with that, she decided to think about what she would do to Sage, Kento and Ryo tomorrow night. 

'Maybe I should spray whipped cream all over Sage's room and Sage. Yeah. Then I should purposely take out all of his clothes and hide them where he wouldn't find them because he tried to get out of cleaning up the house tomorrow after school. Then for Kento, I'll raid his secret stash of food, take everything in it, and then throw it into the lake. That'll be torture for him! Ha! Then there's Ryo. I know! I'll dye White Blaze pink and orange. That'll freak Ryo out enough that he'll pass out on the spot! Aren't I evil?' With that last thought, Mia turned out her light and went to sleep. 

The only three left up were Sai, Sage and Ryo, but Ryo doesn't count because he wasn't responding to his surroundings. Sage had left the house some time earlier to meditate in the brisk night air, and Sai was still trying to force himself to sleep. After an hour of relentless tossing and turning, Sai decided to leave the house as well. Maybe a brief walk in the cool night air would relax his tense senses. As he walked out the door, the magnificent beauty of the iridescent lake among the shadows overwhelmed Sai. Also, the navy blue sky with the insignificant twinkling stars scattered about it was quite picturesque as well.

'No wonder Rowen usually stays up until 2 am. The day isn't nearly as beautiful as the night is.' Sai thought to himself as he looked at the immense void above him.

"Compelling, isn't it?" a voice said from the shadows.

Sai nearly jumped ten feet when he was disturbed by the voice.

"Sage. Whew. You scared the shit out of me man. Don't ever do that again. Anyway, when did you start to meditate at night anyway?"

"Ever since….." Sage then hesitated as the horrified screams of Rowen and Sai echoed through his mind, "…. since your guy's disappearances. I came out here every night to talk to the stars. I told them all of my fears, secrets, and doubts because they made me feel like I was talking to both you and Rowen. I've felt so guilty for what happened and I still do. Every night I begged for your forgiveness, and I never seemed to receive a response. Now I know why."

Sai never thought that Sage would be the type of person who could descend into deep depressions like that. Ryo usually was the king of depression in the Coji household. Sai realized then that if he had decided not to return, Sage probably would have either committed suicide or gone to a mental institution during the recovery process. 

"Sage, even if you did kill us, you would never do it on your own free will. Even then, Rowen and I would have forgiven you in the blink of an eye."

"Thank you, Sai. A couple of things are still bothering me though. How did you manage to make it out of the spirit realm in one piece and why did you guys take so long to return to Toyama?"

Sai hesitated before he answered Sage's questions. Answering the first question would be easily done, even thought it brought back horrifying memories, but the second would not be so simple. How could he tell Sage about him not wanting to return to Toyama?

"Sai. Oh Sai. Time to return to reality." Sage was saying in a singsong type of voice.

"Huh? Oh. First of all, I will tell you what happened to Rowen and I, or at least what I remember. I recall seeing you sending Rowen and I into the dark abyss and that was the last I saw of you. Then I remember the feeling of being ripped in two. The physical agony I was put through was immense, and then there was a bright light that overcame me. All of my previous pain ceased and I felt as if I had reached the gates of Heaven. As my body bathed in the light surrounding me, I heard voices calling me back into the mortal realm. I remember resisting the force pulling me back to Earth, but all of my attempts were in vain as I felt myself plummeting towards my mangled body. The next thing I know, I'm laying on my back and seeing Rowen on the other side of the parking lot bleeding profusely and showing no signs of life whatsoever. I then lost consciousness and when I awoke, I found several doctors leaning over me, murmuring several words that I couldn't understand. One said that it was a miracle that I survived through everything that happened. For a week or so, I had no clue that Rowen was alive or where I was. That was when I met Kendy and Maurette. They were both serving their detentions by being volunteers at the local hospital. That was when I found out that I was no longer in Japan, but in America. I didn't know about Rowen's condition until he awoke from his coma about two weeks after I awoke from mine."

Sage looked at Sai with a look of utmost guilt and sorrow. He now had an idea of why Sai had looked so forlorn when he had entered the house. Sai then continued talking after a short pause.

"Sage, I know you may not like the answer to the next question, but I always tell the truth, and I never make exceptions. The reason why it took us so long to return to Toyama was mainly because we couldn't leave the hospital and the other reason is that I didn't want to come back. I didn't care about what Kento and the others felt at that point. I-I just wanted to get away from the painful memories of Talpa, the Dynasty, and everything else that occurred here…"

With that last statement, Sai started to sob uncontrollably into Sage's shoulder. Sage knew that Sai had kept this mental torture to himself for some time, and this was his way of releasing it. For once, the Ronin of Trust needed someone to confide in. After about a half hour passed, Sage led Sai back to the house, where they both received a good night's sleep.

Before anyone knew it, morning came and school was only a few hours away. Everyone was up early, except for Rowen, but no one dared to get him up before at least 7:30am because he would knock you out cold if you did. Ryo had to be slapped silly to get him out of his trance from last night. He didn't get a wink of sleep, but he still functioned perfectly fine. Mia was walking around the kitchen still trying to make up a reasonable excuse for Rowen and Sai so they could be introduced to the school once again. The reason they had to go back to Han a High and not any of the other schools is that Han a High was the only school that accepted students in the middle of the year. Just then, Mia had a great idea.

"Hey guys! How does this sound! When Rowen and Sai had the car accident, the car went over a cliff, but their bodies were never found in the burned wreckage. They were presumed dead after two-week search effort. Then, they came back to our house just yesterday and that is that."

Kento stopped eating and replied, "Great idea Mia! Anyone else not want their breakfast?"

"I'm glad to see that you are eating well again, Kento. I was getting really worried about you." Mia stated.

"Well, now that I have the World's Greatest Cook back, why should I turn down a good meal?"

"Kento stop eating? I don't think that is possible." Sai replied.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Hey! Who's going to wake Rowen up? I'm not doing it. I feel like having my head screwed on the right way today." Ryo said.

"Men are such babies. I'll do it! Ugh, he's not that hard to wake up." Kendy replied.

"Oh yeah? I'd just love to see you try Miss High and Mighty!" Sage snapped back.

With that last statement, Kendy turned around and walked upstairs and into Rowen's room. A few seconds later, Rowen's screams could be heard.

"WHAT THE HELL!! AHHHHH!! OUCH! HEY DON'T DO THAT DAMMIT!! WOAH!!!!" *thump*

"I'd hate to be the last one to be up with Kendy around." Sai whispered to himself.

Just then, Rowen ran out of his room with the infamous smiley face boxers on with the funniest look on his face. He then turned around to see Sai starting to crack up along with all the other guys. He realized what he was wearing and started turning the brightest shade of red possible. Rowen ran back into his room while the guys, and girls, were rolling around on the floor laughing their eyes out.

"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH SMILEY FACES!!!!!" Rowen shouted from behind his closed door.

"What are ya goin' to have next Rowen, pink little bunny rabbits!!" Kento hollered from his position on the floor. Rowen then peeked out of his door and gave Kento his nastiest look imaginable before shutting it again.

"Boy it's good to have those two back." Ryo said to no one in particular.

"That reminds me, what the hell were you guys talking about when you said that you thought he," she said as she pointed to Sage, "killed Sai and Rowen? Why are you guys concealing their pasts? What is so bad about them that Maurette and I can't know about? I'm not going to shut up until you tell me!" Kendy said. Then she started to hum The Song That Never Ends, which, if sung long enough, will cause anyone to go crazy. All of the guys present covered their ears until Ryo spoke up.

"Alright! Just stop singing that damn song! How the hell did Rowen survive living with you? That's the only thing I want to know."

Kendy stopped humming and the guys removed their hands from their ears. Ryo was reluctant to speak because if he told Kendy and Maurette what happened in Toyama during the Dynasty Wars, he would be putting them in danger. Also, he had the sneaking suspicion that Rowen would end up killing him if he told, after what Sai had said happened the day before. At that same moment, Rowen emerged from his room.

"Hey guys. What's up? Why is everyone so quiet? Did I miss something?"

"Yea you did Rowen. I just tortured Ryo into telling me about your guys' pasts. Why the hell are you guys so resistive? It can't be that bad, can it?" Kendy said.

"Alright Kendy. Since I know I can't talk you out of it and you'll start to sing if I try to, I'll tell you everything you need to know." Rowen stated. He started at the very beginning when they received their armors and met each other for the first time in Toyama and continued until he reached the point where he encountered the demon personally. He didn't wish to continue at that time because of what had happened to him was too fresh in his mind. Rowen could still hear the demon's voice within his head whenever he thought about those memories. How could anyone understand? Not even Sai knew what happened to Rowen. While Rowen drifted into his own world, Maurette and Kendy were trying to register all of the information that they were just told. Neither of them had known that their boyfriends had such traumatizing experiences. Who would of thought that a gentle soul like Sai and a genius like Rowen had saved the world multiple times?

"Earth to Rowen. Yo Rowen! Come in Rowen!" Kento was yelling as he was waving his hand in front of Rowen's face.

"Huh? What?" Rowen replied with a blank look on his face.

"Dude, you drifted off right after you explained all of the stuff that happened to us while battling the demon lord. Aren't you gonna to tell us what happened to you after your disappearance?" Kento stated.

"No! How could any of you understand what happened to me? You would think I'm some sort of freak after I told you! Even you wouldn't understand, Sai, and we went through the same portal! My experience was extremely traumatizing and I relive the pain each time I think about it!" Rowen yelled while a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I can't tell you until I'm ready, you hear me?" With that last outburst, Rowen left the room and ran into the forest surrounding Mia's house. No one dared to stop him because his temper was the equal of Ryo's. After a few minutes of silence, Maurette broke the silence.

"Don't you guys think that we should be getting to school? I mean, we have to register Kendy, Rowen, Sai and I before the first bell rings, right? Who's going to bring Rowen back into the house? I mean, we don't have time for games at the moment." Maurette stated as she looked at her watch.

"I'll go get him." Sai volunteered. "If anyone should go, it would be me. I need to know what was so different about his experience from mine. It seems that Rowen met the demon personally, while I was left alone and I think he needs to talk to someone who went through a similar experience. You guys can go ahead and go to school. Kendy and Maurette need to be registered and if it isn't too much trouble, do you think you can register Rowen and I as well?"

"Of course, Sai." Mia replied as she hurried everyone out of the door. Sai stayed by the door and waited for everyone to leave. Then he rushed into the woods after Rowen. He ran for several minutes before he found a steep cliff at one side of the forest. Standing at the edge was Rowen, who looked like he was contemplating whether or not he should jump. Rowen then took a step closer to the edge and the sound of crumbling rocks could be heard.

"Rowen. Don't do it, Rowen."

"Why shouldn't I, Sai. You were right when you were questioning coming back to Toyama. There's so many painful memories here." Rowen had to swallow a lump in his throat before continuing. "I want to end everything. I just don't care anymore, and no one else cares either."

"That's not true, Rowen. Everyone cares so much and didn't you see how glad Sage was to see you? How could you even think about suicide Rowen? You are holding Sage's mental stability within your hands and if you die, Sage will go over the edge. I was talking with him last night and do you know what he said? He said he always came out at night to meditate and talk to the stars because it felt like he was talking to you. He was always asking for our forgiveness and now you're saying that he doesn't care?" Before Sai could continue, Rowen stepped back from the cliff's edge and collapsed. His body was shaking with sobs that seemed they had been withheld for years. Sai walked over to Rowen and comforted him.

"It's okay, Rowen. Something that you don't know is that I've been contemplating suicide as well, but when I tried at the hospital, Maurette stopped me. She represented all of the things that I had to live for. Now, Rowen, why do you think I would see you as some freak if you told me what happened? I can't understand what happened to you if you don't tell me, Rowen."

"Okay, Sai. Since I know you'll have some sort of comprehension of the situation, I'll tell you, but promise me that you won't tell any of the guys until I'm ready. I'd like to tell them myself. That's the way it should be." Rowen made a short pause before continuing. "When I was pulled into the darkness, I had the feeling that I was being split into two halves. You probably had a similar experience, but that's where the similarities end. I then landed into a dark chamber, surrounded by billowing flames. The heat was suffocating and I could barely breathe. There's where I saw it. The demon was nothing more than a ball of purple light, but that wasn't the part that bothered me. Next to him was Sage's soul, chained to the wall like some pet. The demon spoke to me. He said that if I allowed him to feed upon my soul and take control of my physical body, then he would release Sage. If I didn't, he would be imprisoned here for all eternity and his physical body would remain in it's current comatose state until it died. I couldn't let that happen to Sage, so I agreed. Sage's soul vanished into thin air and I didn't have time to see much of anything else. First the demon melded my armor orb with my soul, so essentially, I'm always in my sub-armor. After that extremely painful experience, it started to enter my mind. I couldn't fight it. I could feel it's evil presence seeping into my consciousness and I was powerless to stop it. Then as the pain became almost too unbearable, it subsided. My soul flew into a very bright light at that point, but I could still hear the demon calling me. It's voice kept repeating, 'Remember Rowen of Strata, I own part of your soul! When I return to your realm, your soul will belong to me and so will Sai of the Torrent's! You will serve only me!' I hear those words in my mind everyday. It feels like he is actually a part of me. If that light hadn't come when it did, I would have returned as nothing more than an empty shell. That…. THING would have made me murder all of you guys and destroy the rest of the mortal world along with you…" Rowen paused once again, but this time he just turned around and looked up at the sky. The wind was blowing through his blue hair, like it was trying to carry those troubled thoughts away from its master. A solitary tear made its way down Rowen's cheek as Sai gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. They sat there for a few hours, just staring at the clouds. Then Rowen got up silently and headed towards the house with Sai following close behind.

When they both reached the house, Rowen went inside and sat on the couch with his head buried in his hands. Sai came in and took a seat next to Rowen. Rowen once again started to sob uncontrollably. Right now was one of those times that Rowen just needed to release all of the emotional torture that he had withheld from the world over the years. Then the others returned home to find Rowen on the couch sobbing, while Sai gave the guys a look that told them to either leave the room or come back later. Kento got the idea first and shoved the others back out the door. Once outside, there were some very confused looks given towards Kento.

"Why did you push us out, Kento? Rowen needs us right now!" Kendy scolded.

"Not right now, Kendy. He needs some time alone with Sai to try and figure out how to deal with all of the pain he feels within his soul. I could see it in Sai's eyes."

"Well, the good piece of news is that the principal bought my story and that he'll introduce Kendy and Maurette tomorrow. Also, Rowen and Sai will be reintroduced to 

the school when they are ready to come back." Mia added, trying to change the subject.

While Mia was talking to the rest of the guys, Sage slowly backed out of the group and headed towards a nearby tree to meditate. He needed to probe Rowen's mind to find out what happened to him. As he entered Rowen's mind, he sensed a lot of turmoil. Then the agony of the experience hit him full force. He saw the tendrils of smoke grabbing at Rowen, pulling him apart. Then he saw it. Rowen's soul had separated from his body completely. While the mysterious smoke held his soul, Rowen's body was dropped like a useless piece of waste. Sage watched as it fell through the realms and landed with a sickening thud on the parking lot below. Then Sage turned his attention from Rowen's mangled body to his soul that was being pulled into a dark room. He then saw everything Rowen saw, including the part when his soul was chained to the wall and Rowen traded his soul for Sage's. Then everything else occurred in the exact same way Rowen had described it to Sai. As soon as Sage pulled away from Rowen's mind, he let out a small scream and collapsed on the spot. Meanwhile, everyone else was arguing about Rowen. Kento and Kendy looked about ready to go at it when Maurette noticed someone was missing.

"KENDY! KENTO! WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP FOR 30 SECONDS SO I COULD SAY SOMETHING, OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO KNOCK ONE OF YOU OUT?" Kendy and Kento stopped after Maurette's outburst. "That's better. Have any of you seen Sage for the past half-hour because I haven't." Everyone looked around but no one found Sage. Then Kendy spotted a limp form underneath one of the nearby trees. As she looked at it, the form let out a small moan. 

"I found Sage! He's under that tree over there and I think he's unconscious!"

Kento and Ryo ran over to Sage to find that had his eyes closed and his eyebrows were furrowed like he was either concentrating or in pain.

"I think I know what happened, Kento." Ryo stated, "Sage was probably trying to probe Rowen's mind and he ran into some trouble when he did. I hope he found out what happened to Rowen before he passed out."

Ryo then asked Kento to carry Sage into the house because it was starting to get cold outside. When they walked inside, everyone noticed that both Sai and Rowen were asleep on the couch. Everyone quietly walked past the two sleeping figures and placed Sage in his room. All of the remaining guys decided to go back out into town to get something to eat. Kendy and Maurette also decided to go because they didn't want to stay in such a quiet place for the rest of the day. Mia said they could use her car while she stayed at the house looking after the others. Anyway, she had to look through the legends she didn't get to in her class today. As soon as Mia heard the door shut, she headed for her room.

A few minutes later, Mia found her class files. She looked through each legend thoroughly just to make sure there was nothing left to translate in each. Then she stumbled upon a legend that hadn't even been touched. As she looked at it, she noticed a picture that showed the Armor of Strata. Mia also noticed the difference in the color of the armor. Instead of the solid blue hue the armor usually had, the armor plates had a mix of red and black within them and the normally golden horns had changed to black as well. Mia looked onward and also saw the Armor of Torrent, which had the exact same red and black hues mixed with the normal light blue hue of the armor. Then she saw two other armors. They had the same structure as the armors of Torrent and Strata, only the colors were different. The Strata look-alike had a deep purple hue in the place of the navy blue color of the original. The horns were bronze-colored instead of the lighter golden hue of the original. Then as she looked at the armor beside it, Mia saw that it had a sea-green color in the place of the light blue color of the original. Then she looked at the horn and realized that it was pure white instead of the silvery color that the original Torrent armor has.

Mia proceeded to translate the first line, but before she could do that, she had to remove the file from the disk for her class. She didn't want to show her class a legend and not know what it was about. After that was done, Mia went back to translating the file. The first two lines stated, 

'Darkness shall come forth upon the land,

Shrouding the Earth, water and surrounding air.

Foes of remarkable strength shall appear,

To stop these opponents, no one will dare.'

Mia became so engrossed in her studies that she completely forgot about her assignment for the guys. The house still looked like a pigsty and it probably was going to stay that way for a long time considering all of the recent revelations made. She also, unconsciously, set back her revenge for another date because of that. As Mia was busy translating, someone was shuffling around downstairs. 

Rowen had just awoken from his restful bliss on the couch. The first thing he headed for was the refrigerator to search for some dinner. The best thing that Rowen found was a carton of milk.

'Reminder to Mia: Go to the store to buy some more food.' Rowen thought to himself.

As he was pouring a glass for himself, Rowen suddenly felt very strange. Then a surge of extreme pain flowed through his body. Rowen let out a yelp of agony and crumpled to the floor, clutching his head. The milk he had been previously pouring dropped to the floor and spilled all over the kitchen floor. He could feel the force corrupting his mind. Before he lost consciousness, Rowen's eyes glowed with a red tint and then they shut. Rowen then lay still.

   [1]: mailto:rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com



	3. Part Three: The Night from Hell

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata

You already know my whole disclaimer, so why repeat it? I just get so tired of repeating myself all the time. Hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to send all comments, flames and suggestions to [rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com][1]. **WARNING: I got a little carried away with the cursing in this chapter, so if cursing offends you, don't read this chapter.** Also, the fourth chapter should be posted real soon because I've had some really great ideas for it.

(I had a serious case of writers' block while writing this chapter, so don't send me mean comments because of its, well, um, shortness.)

Part 3

The Night From Hell

As Rowen's lifeless body lay upon the floor, his ears began to bleed and the blood merged with the spilled milk on the floor. Then something slid beneath the door. The smoke-like substance took a solid form, picked up Rowen and disappeared from sight, taking the Ronin of Life with him. Meanwhile, Mia was sitting in her room becoming very frustrated at the computer. 

"THIS DAMNED THING! WHY THE HELL ISN'T IT TRANSLATING THIS STUPID LEGEND! I HATE TECHNOLOGY! UGH!"

Mia's scream caused Sai to wake up from his pleasant rest on the couch.

'Can't a guy get any sleep around here without being woken up either by some type of new evil or a person arguing with themselves, others or machines? Jeez.' Sai thought as he lifted himself from the couch to see what Mia had her temper all riled up about. As he made his way upstairs to Mia's room, he decided to check on Sage and saw that he was sleeping quite soundly in his bed. As he walked into Mia's room, she turned around and Sai saw that her head looked like it was about ready to explode! Sai couldn't help but laugh at this sight.

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT FISH BOY? I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY AND DECIPHER THIS LEGEND!"

"Calm down Mia or else your head is going to explode. You know that I'm not very good at translations, Rowen is though."

"Okay. I'm as calm and serene as the bottom of the ocean." Mia said as she calmed herself down by taking deep breaths. Recently Mia had been going to anger management sessions and that ridiculous phrase was what the doctor told her to recite when she became angry. Just then a scream was heard from Sage's room followed by a loud thud.

"Sage!" Mia and Sai yelled as they ran to Sage's room. "Are you okay?" They opened the door to find Sage on the floor, clutching his head while there were small trickles of blood coming from between Sage's fingers on both hands. He went from a sitting position to rolling around on the floor in anguish. As Sai ran over to Sage, Sage suddenly stopped thrashing. He looked like he was in a trance because his eyes were as blank as the ceiling above him. Sai went behind him and tried to wake him up by shaking him, but he received no response. After a few minutes, Sage snapped out of his trance very suddenly.

"Shit! Rowen! Where are you Rowen!" Sage yelled as he ran out the room and down the stairs. As Mia and Sai walked out of Sage's door, they saw Sage standing in the middle of the room looking all around him while his blood trickled down both sides of his face. Then Sage frantically turned around and went in the kitchen. He screamed at the sight he found there. Just then, Mia and Sai walked in the kitchen as well. Their reactions were the same as Sage's. As the two sat and gawked at the mess before them when Sage collapsed on the floor.

"Why does all this freakin' stuff happen when I'm asleep? What the hell happened to Rowen and why is Sage bleeding from his ears? Damn it! I hate this!" Sai screamed at no one in particular.

"Calm down Sai, your head looks like it's about ready to explode." Mia stated sarcastically. "We need to calm down and call the others on Kendy's cell phone and get Sage onto the couch. Would you do that Sai?" Sai could tell that Mia was trying to keep her panic under control while she walked over to the phone. Sai placed Sage on the couch, with a towel beneath his head, and sat down next to him.

"I bet you know what happened to Rowen, Sage. That's probably why your ears are bleeding. You probably bonded with him when you probed his mind earlier. I just hope that the demon's prophecy hasn't come true." Sai said as he decided to sit down as well because of the splitting headache he had. Meanwhile in town, Kendy, Maurette and the others were at a fast food restaurant. Kendy and Maurette were having a tough time eating because of Kento and he had already driven away most of the other customers.

"Where the hell do you put all of that food Kento? I mean, there is only so much room in a person's stomach and I would think that you already exceeded its limit about a half-hour ago." Maurette asked becoming very amused with Kento's eating habits.

"Hey! I have a need for a lot of food okay? I can't help it!" Kento snapped back.

"Jeez, I was just curious." Maurette stated meekly. Then Kendy's cell phone rang. She picked it up while everyone else was quite curious who it was.

"Hello? What? Calm down Mia, now what is it? Oh my God! We'll be over there as fast as we can. Bye. We're leaving, now, and I mean it Kento. Bring the food with you." 

"What did Mia want? It sounded important considering your reaction." Ryo asked as everyone headed for the car.

"I'll tell you on the way there. Hurry up Kento!"

"Hey! I'm trying not to drop my food!"

"We'll leave you behind if you don't hurry up! I mean it! We're needed back at Mia's!"

"Fine! Jeez, it's like the return of the PMS avenger being around her." Kento mumbled to himself as he ran to the car.

In the car, Ryo noticed that while Kendy was driving, a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Kendy. What did Mia tell you? You can trust me." 

"Ryo, she told me that there was blood all over the kitchen floor, and Sage is unconscious and bleeding from the ears."

"There has to be something else Kendy, otherwise you wouldn't be crying."

"Yea. There is. Rowen's," Kendy stalled while swallowing the lump in her throat, "Rowen's gone. It was his blood on the kitchen floor. I know it is. Mia said it was horrible." Ryo continued to comfort Kendy as they pulled into the driveway. When they walked into the house, they saw Sage's form on the couch with two streams of blood coming from his ears and landing on a crimson towel beneath his head. Some of his hair had turned red due to the streams. Then next to him was Sai, clutching his head and groaning in pain. Mia was sitting next to him trying to comfort him, hoping that he was going to be okay.

"Holy shit! Sai! Are you okay?" Maurette said, but she received no response as she sat down next to him. She saw that his eyes were tightly shut and he was rocking back and forth. "Oh God Sai. Please answer me." Maurette passed her hands through Sai's wet hair as she said this.

"He's been like this ever since I hung up the phone with Kendy. I can't get him to snap out of it." Mia said. Then Sai suddenly stood up and he was no longer clutching his head.

"I know where Rowen is." After he said this, Sai collapsed on the floor, his last bit of energy spent.

Rowen awoke to a splitting headache. He tried to raise his hands up to massage his temples to relieve the migraine, but he realized that he was chained to a hard surface. He opened his eyes to discover that he was in the same room that he was in before, except this time he was alone. Sage's soul wasn't there, which relieved Rowen of some of his anxiety. 

'Thank the Gods! At least Sage isn't in danger, but what am I doing here? No! It can't be! The prophecy! Damn! I gotta get out of here before….' The slamming of a heavy metal door followed by an eerie silence interrupted Rowen's thoughts. Then a bright purple light filled the room and blinded the helpless Ronin.

"What do you want demon?" Rowen screamed out as his eyes stared blankly onward.

"You know perfectly well what I wish to have, Rowen of the Strata. Your body is nearly perfect since I bonded your armor to your soul. I need to possess it so I can re-enter the mortal world and fish-boy will be my servant. His already being turned to my side as we speak."

"You lie! If you harm Sai, I'll.."

"What'll you do? You can't even free yourself, let alone save your friend. Now be still, for this is an extremely painful process."

"Thanks for the warning. I kinda guessed that." Rowen's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Then it entered through Rowen's ears and Rowen unleashed a scream that wouldn't be possible for any lesser man to achieve. Rowen opened his eyes as the demon possessed the last section of his mind. His eyes changed from their normal stormy blue color to a shade of bright purple that made his eyes look like ice. The chains were lifted from his arms and Rowen dropped to the floor and landed on his feet. Then he teleported back to the woods surrounding Mia's house. 

After walking for several minutes, Rowen came upon Mia's house. As he walked towards the door, he could hear the sounds of bickering through the door.

"I'm telling you Kento that we need to go and rescue Rowen!"

"I'm with you on this one, but for one thing, Sage and Sai are out cold, which means our strength in numbers is gone. Also, we don't even know where the hell Rowen is! Sai said he knows where Rowen is, which means we should wait until he wakes up to leave." 

Meanwhile, Kendy was sitting in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. Mia saw this and decided to leave Ryo and Kento to argue amongst themselves while she comforted Kendy.

"Kendy, Rowen will be fine. You'll see. He'll come back as strong as ever, and just as curious and intelligent."

"I'd love to believe you Mia, but I have the worst feeling about him and my feelings are never wrong. I'd give anything to be able to help him right now." Kendy sighed and looked out the window at the stars. "Aren't the stars beautiful? No wonder Ro loved them so much."

Mia left Kendy to go and check on Maurette. She was holding Sai like there was not going to be a tomorrow. Maurette was cradling his head in her lap while she was staring blankly into space. Mia knew she wouldn't receive any response from her, so she continued on into the other room to try and stop all of the arguing. Then it would be her job to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Just thinking about it gave her the chills. Mia had always hated blood. She had tried to convince either Kento or Ryo to do it, but being the lazy people they are, they refused. Also, Mia didn't dare ask Maurette or Kendy because that might send them into shock, so she was stuck with it. As she walked towards the kitchen, Rowen was standing outside of the closed door, waiting for the right moment to enter.

'Pathetic fools. This disguise will trick them all. Wait! If I go in like this, they will think I got out way too easily.' Then he started to rip his clothes apart until they were nothing more than shreds of cloth. Claws appeared out of his fingertips and he started to scratch his skin. He made several cuts on his legs and arms and one very large gash across his temple and above his eyes. 'There. Now it will look like I had to battle someone to leave my prison. Now I have to pretend to pass out when those two fools open the door.'

Just at that very same moment, Ryo opened the door saying, "Well I'm going to save Rowen myself then!" When he turned around, Rowen decided to pass out right into his arms.

"Crap! Where the hell did you come from Rowen? From the looks of it, you certainly had a struggle with someone." Ryo laid Rowen down. "KENTO, KENDY, MAURETTE, MIA! Rowen's back, but he's pretty scratched up! Somebody come help me!"

At those words Kendy looked up and ran to where Ryo was. "I'll help ya! God I'm so glad that he's back!" With that statement, Kendy lifted Rowen up like it was nothing at all and ran up the stairs with him in her arms.

"Talk about over enthusiasm. I've never seen anyone so riled up before." Ryo stated, pointing out the obvious.

"No kidding. The only time I get that enthusiastic about something is when Sai's cooking dinner." Kento responded. Then, as if the mention of his name called him back, Sai started to wake up.

"Come on Sai. That's it." Maurette said as Sai awoke and looked into her eyes.

"Hi love. Oh my Gods! We need to go find Rowen! He might be hurt really bad and who knows what…." Sai was interrupted by Kendy's yell.

"He's waking up!" Kendy watched as Rowen opened his eyes and looked at her. She expected to see the normal blue eyes, but instead she received a shade of purple that showed no emotion whatsoever. "Oh my God! Rowen! What happened to your eyes?"

"My eyes? What's wrong with my eyes?" Rowen said as he cast a spell on her that would make her believe whatever he told her.

"Nothing's wrong with your eyes. I think they're beautiful, that's all."

"Better. Now let's go downstairs and show the guys how good I feel."

Rowen walked downstairs with Kendy following behind him. He made sure he had a slight limp to make the effect he wanted. He walked into the kitchen to see Mia cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

"Sorry Mia. I didn't mean to make such a big mess."

"Rowen! You're awake! That's good and don't worry about the mess. You're hurt too badly to be doing any work anyway." Mia responded. Sai also walked into the kitchen and decided to help Mia clean up the spilled milk as Rowen walked into the next room

'That puny little boy will be under my control by this time tomorrow and my plan will be put into action. With this body and brain I'll be able to rule the world!' Rowen thought to himself. Meanwhile, deep inside of his mind, the actual Rowen was cowering in the only corner of his brain that wasn't affected by the darkness.

'I've got to get out of this place and warn the guys that the thing they are seeing isn't me, but how is the question. My telepathic abilities are blocked off and if I leave this corner I risk being erased completely. Gods I wish I knew what to do!'

Sage had awoken as well that night and he seemed to be the only one that wasn't affected by Rowen's spell. Sage knew that something evil was hiding within Rowen, but no one believed him. For one thing, he tried to tell the others that Rowen's eye color had changed, but no one seemed to notice. Also, Rowen's voice had become deeper as well. All noticeable changes but no one cared.

Everyone went to bed at around 11:00pm, even though there was school tomorrow. Sage tried to sleep, but the evil essence he felt from Rowen was too strong to ignore. So Sage decided to sleep on the couch for the rest of the night.

Everyone was up early the next morning. Rowen wasn't at the breakfast table, but that was expected from him since he considered a descent hour to get up at was 1:00pm. Then everyone heard the door slam and Rowen walked in the door wearing a pair of running shorts and a shirt.

"Good morning everyone!" With that, Rowen left the room and went upstairs to change into school clothing.

Everyone had a look of shock on their faces as they watched who they thought was Rowen walk up the stairs.

"Now I've seen everything. Rowen was up before everybody for once." Ryo said as he slapped his palm against his forehead.

"This is actually quite strange guys. The day that Rowen and I came here, he still slept like the living dead. He couldn't have changed that fast unless here was some type of interference from someone or something. Also, did any of you notice that his eye color has changed, or is that just me?" Sai stated.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU ALL LAST NIGHT?" Sage yelled as his face started to turn red.

"Shut up, Sage. Sai's right. There's something wrong and we're going to find out sooner or later what that is." Kendy stated. (If you're wondering why everyone is questioning why Rowen's acting the way he is and about his unusual eye color is because Rowen's spell only lasts for about 8 hours, but Rowen doesn't know that.)

"Well anyway, we need to get to school early for the introduction assembly." Maurette stated breaking the silence. As everyone left the table, Kento decided to stay for a minute.

"Hey! Are you guys going to finish your breakfasts'?"

"Get your butt in the car, Kento! We're leaving now!" Kendy yelled from her position in the driver's seat. As Kento came walking out the door, Rowen sprinted past him.

"Ha! I got to the car before you did!" Rowen taunted in a singsong type of voice.

"Oh shut up you blue-haired goon!" Kento grumbled as he got into the back seat because the front was reserved for Rowen. Then they all drove off to school, never suspecting what a hectic day it was going to be.

   [1]: mailto:rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com



	4. Part Four: Attack on the Innocent

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata aka. Strata-chan

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Please e-mail me at [rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com][1] and if you get a chance, please visit my site as well at [http://tenku_strata.homestead.com/Strata.html][2].

Part 4:

Everyone was relieved that they had reached Han a High so quickly because of Rowen's extremely hyper state. He nearly caused them to have an accident twice! Once the group toppled out of Mia's little jeep, Sai and Rowen were secretly escorted to the office while the others raced to get to class on time. Once Sai had seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in the waiting room, he noticed that Rowen was acting a little too hyper, even if he was on a sugar high. He was bouncing off of the walls, literally! What he started to do next was even worse.

"This is the song that doesn't end! Yes it goes on and on my friend! Some people started…"

"Rowen, please stop before I have to come over there and become EXTREMELY violent and beat you to a bloody pulp!" Sai threatened through his clenched teeth.

"Oh come on Sai! Live a little!"

"Rowen! I have a life, but I don't run amuck like a chicken with its head cut off!" Sai looked around the office and saw no one was present. "I think you shouldn't be wearing your sub-armor in school, Rowen. I mean, it would look pretty damn strange if you were leaping 20 ft. into the air like you are right now."

"But I don't…" As Rowen tried to make Sai back off, Sai rose from his seat and grabbed Rowen by the arm before he could jump out of the way. Sai realized that Rowen truly wasn't wearing his sub-armor because his hands touched warm flesh. As Sai felt Rowen's hand and wrist, he sensed an extreme evil emanating from him. He looked into his piercing icy eyes and it was like he knew Rowen was no longer in control. Sai pulled away as quickly as possible and backed into a wall just as the principal walked in.

"What's going on you two. I hope noth…" he trailed off as Rowen stared at him. The man's eyes glazed over and he stood in a trance-like state while Rowen finished his amnesia spell. He turned to Sai and spoke, but the voice that emerged was not human in origin. It was much too deep for any mortal to achieve.

"If you tell a soul about what took place in this room, I swear you will never live to see another day, and I always keep my promises, my friend." Sai tried to back further away from Rowen, but was unsuccessful due to the solid wall behind him. At that point, the principal walked silently out of the room in the direction of the gymnasium. His eyes were still glazed over.

"Rowen! What's happened to you?"

"The Rowen you know no longer exists. It is only I, Opanaroth, that dwells in this body now. You will pay for your insolence towards my power with your life." With that last statement, Opanaroth used his telekinetic ability to levitate Sai from the floor and threw him through the wall and into the main hallway.

"Damn that hurt." Sai said as he put on his subarmor. "I don't want to fight you, Rowen, but I don't have any other choice in the matter." Opanaroth walked out of the office and Sai noticed the ghostly violet glow that he was emitting.

"Too bad, isn't it. I'm surprised no one has emerged. I'd just love to play with my friends." Opanaroth asserted with a baneful grin. "Oh well, at least I have you to compete with, though it won't be much of a challenge for me. If you join me, I promise you great wealth and power."

"Just you wait Opanaroth! I'll free Rowen if it's the last thing I do!"

"As you wish, puny mortal." Opanaroth scoffed as he started to radiate that pallid violet light and sent an energy blast straight at Sai. As the Warrior of Trust tried to leap out of the way, Sai cried out in pain as he realized that his foot had partially caught the blast. Once he recovered, Sai decided it was time to take some action. He gathered enough strength and charged at Opanaroth and gave him a strong kick in the abdomen. Sai took this chance to turn and run towards where he knew the others would be.

'If I go get the others, I may have a chance at beating Opanaroth, but we might harm Rowen is the process. I know the actual Rowen is in there somewhere. Gods, I hope we won't have to destroy him. Also, I'm putting all of those innocent people in the gymnasium at risk as well by going there, including Kendy and Maurette. I wish I knew what to do!' Sai thought as he dashed down the hallway.

'Just keep fighting him!'

'Rowen?'

'Yeah it's me. Look, I'm trying to regain control but it's not as easy as it sounds. You must get the others and scuffle with him for a while, even though you may harm me. If you distract him enough, maybe he'll lose his guard and that'll be my chance to drive him out.'

'That sounds good Rowen, but how do I get the others without putting all of the people in the gym at risk?'

'We'll have to chance it. There's no other way…' Rowen's telepathic link was suddenly broken with an audible snap.

'Rowen? Rowen! Hey, are you okay?' No response. 'I hope you're right my friend because I'd hate to injure you for nothing.' Sai thought to himself as he dashed down the hall with Opanaroth right behind him and gaining ground. Meanwhile in the gym…

"Calm down everyone! The air conditioning system has gone haywire. That's what the disturbance is. There is nothing to fear! Anyway, I have called you here because I have wonderful news…" hollered the principal as the students were becoming more anxious. Meanwhile in the back row, the other Ronins and the two girls were trying to figure out how to get out of the gym.

"Man, we've got to get outta here." Kendy stated.

"I agree fully with you, Kendy, but how are we going to get past weirdo up there." Sage stated with his one pale blue eye trailing up to the podium. "This is obviously no air conditioning problem."

"Thank you Oh Wise One. Do you think it's the Dynasty?" Ryo asked.

"Nah. We destroyed Talpa for good, but we don't know about that entity that we encountered a while back." Sage winced at the memories when he made that statement. "It just disappeared without a trace."

"Reminding me, has anyone seen Sai and Rowen?" Kento asked.

"In fact, I haven't seen them at…." Before Sage could finish his sentence, something crashed through the wall behind them. It flew halfway across the gym and skidded the rest of the way across until it hit the podium.

"Sai!" Kento yelled worriedly as he ran towards the slumped figure. "Are you okay?"

"Yea," responded Sai as he painfully picked himself off of the floor. As the others just stared, Sai saw that Rowen had decided to make his presence known.

"How'd you like the taste of that, Torrent? Was I too rough on you? I'll try to lighten up a bit." Rowen stated sarcastically as he vaulted high into the air and landed near Sai.

"What are you doing Rowen? You're our friend, aren't you?" Kento asked as he walked closer to Opanaroth. As he came closer, Opanaroth gathered an energy blast and shot it at the advancing form. Sai saw this and pushed Kento out of the path of the sheet of lightning and took the blast himself. He was knocked unconscious and his body veered across the floor until it slammed against the wall.

"No Sai! You'll pay, Rowen, you'll pay for what you did to Sai!" Kento yelled as he transformed into his sub-armor.

"Rowen Hashiba. That pathetic fool no longer exists. It is only I, Opanaroth, who resides within this body," the demon stated as he stared at Kento with his hypnotizing violet eyes.

"No Kento! Don't look into his eyes! He'll mesmerize you like he did to Mr. Kiman!" Sai yelled while removing himself from the floor, but he was too late. Kento was already locked into Opanaroth's gaze. When Kento turned around, his eyes were glazed over and he looked as if he was in a trance.

"Poor little Hardrock. He's mine now. Are you acrimonious, Torrent? What are you going to do about it? Hmm? I can't hear you." Opanaroth stated with the last part in a singsong voice.

"We're coming Sai!" Ryo yelled as he and Sage joined the battle. "We told everyone to get out of here as fast as they could, including Kendy and Maurette, so we won't have to worry about them getting hurt."

"You think that's going to work?" Opanaroth stated as he slammed all of the doors shut using telekinesis. "They'll have to suffer along with the rest of you. Sic them, Hardrock." With that command, Kento bounded off in the direction of the now panicked crowd.

"No! Kendy and Maurette are in that crowd!" Ryo and Sage yelled.

"What! The children of the Maelstrom and Quasar are here? How is this possible when I exterminated them hundreds of years ago? They won't be for long. Hardrock! Fetch them for me." Opanaroth exclaimed.

"As you wish, master."

"What the hell are you talking about, Rowen, and why are you attacking Sai? Why is Kento working for you? Did I miss something here?" Ryo asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"And you're supposed to be the leader, Wildfire. You're more puzzled than Torrent over there." Opanaroth jeered as he pointed to Sai who was barely strong enough to stand on his own. As Sai saw this, he heard Kento's transformation cry followed by multiple screams.

'Oh no! I've got to save Kendy and Maurette, but how can I get past Opanaroth without getting clobbered again?'

'He's almost under my control, Sai. Just distract him a little longer for me and don't let him transform into the Strata armor. I can only hold him for a few moments at this point, but that will be enough time to save them from Kento. Transform into your armor!' With that, the connection ceased. Sai looked up and saw that Opanaroth was glowing a deep blue and his eyes were their normal color.

"Go Sai! Now! I can't hold him much longer!" Rowen stated through clenched teeth.

"If you say so. Armor of Torrent! Tao Shin!" As soon as the transformation sequence was completed, Sai sprinted towards the scene where Kento was.

"Rowen?" Sage asked. "Is that really you?"

"Not for long, though. I can't keep him under my control for very much longer." Rowen stated while his aura was starting to flicker from dark blue to the ghostly violet of Opanaroth. "When I'm back under Opanaroth's control, you have got to fight me. When he is weak enough, I'll be able to drive him out of my body.

"But…"

"Don't question my intentions Sage. Ahh!" Rowen screamed as he finally lost the hold he had over Opanaroth. Rowen's eyes were now that piercing violet once again and he snickered as he turned towards the two ronins.

"Now you will both die."

*****

On the other side of the gym, Sai was desperately trying to find Kendy and Maurette before Kento did, but he wasn't being too successful.

'Dammit Kento. Why didn't you listen to me when you had the chance? Now this whole situation has become way too complex.' Sai thought as he pushed his way through the panicked crowd. Two screams then erupted from the left of Sai's current position. Once he had reached his destination, Sai found that Maurette was now in Kento's grasp. Kendy was standing in the clearing as well, paralyzed with fear.

"Kento!" Sai demanded, the anger apparent in his voice. "Put her down before I am forced to harm you! Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with MY girlfriend and lives to tell about it!" Sai began to advance on Kento when he received no response. While walking, Sai saw Kento flinch and then completely disappear from sight, taking Maurette with him.

"No! Maurette!" Sai cried out in despair as he realized what occurred. He looked at the spot where Kendy had once been and discovered she was gone as well. 'Kento must have placed a paralysis spell upon Kendy so that he could transport both of them within one transition. How could I have been so dull-witted? How?' Even Ryo could have figured that one out.' Sai's tears landed upon the floor as he collapsed to his knees. 'I have to figure out a way to go between dimensions. To the place Rowen and I were before….oh my Gods! Rowen! I have to help him first. I remember us being bonded to each other by Opanaroth before, but since the bond was incomplete on my side, he cannot affect me with his evil. Unless, he transfers forms from Rowen to me directly, but that should be impossible. Oh well, here goes nothing.' Sai arose from the floor and dashed over to the scene of the battle, where the virtuous side seemed to be fighting a losing battle.

*****

Opanaroth had already taken down Sage with a few strokes of power, since they could counteract the power sent towards them and create a new blast twice as strong as the original. Ryo had managed to discover this before firing his special attack towards his opponent and had somehow succeeded in avoiding all assaults made by Opanaroth.

"I see that you wish to play games with me. I'll give you a venture that you'll live to regret, unless, you join my cause. You'll have unlimited amounts of abilities that would otherwise be impossible! It is a wonderful feeling."

"Yea right, Opanaroth. I've heard all of these temptations before. Lies. All of them are lies that I won't ever fall for. Release Rowen now before the wrath of Inferno is hailed upon your pathetic form." Ryo spoke with his eyes ablaze with hostility.

"Oh, that will be quite impossible Wildfire since I have complete control over the every action of the Strata armor."

"We'll just see about that."

"Oh we will right about…" Opanaroth paused as he waited for Sai to arrive, "now! Armor of Strata! Tao inochi!"

"Ryo! What have you done? Now he'll be completely unstoppable. Since it has been corrupted, the armor of Strata has acquired quite a few new abilities, some of which we've seen today!" Sai hollered while Ryo cringed as he realized what his pride had caused. The duo could do nothing but watch as the transformation sequence took place. Every event occurred in the normal sequence, except for the fact that instead of the normal indigo hue, swirls of black and red dominated. 

As Opanaroth was forming the helmet, something strange occurred. He cringed in agony as the energy sphere fell to the floor and shattered into a million sparks of light. A dark blue hue erupted from the recoiled form of Opanaroth as Sai fell into unconsciousness and lost the armor and subarmor of the Torrent. Out of the shimmering mass, a ghost-like Rowen appeared wearing the armor of Strata. 

"You may have won the battle, Opanaroth, but I have won the war. Without my soul, the Strata armor will be useless to you. Only I hold the true power of the heavens, and that shell you have upon your body now is the lowest form of my vigor. If I were you, I would leave before I decide to exterminate you now instead of later." With those words, Opanaroth fled the building, knowing that in his current state, he would be no match for the essence of life. Rowen knew that he would be back because as long as Opanaroth held Rowen's physical form, along with Kendy and Maurette, the battle would continue. 

Just seconds later, Sai's form stirred and released a brilliant sky-blue light. It settled next to Rowen's form and the spirit of Sai emerged in the armor of Torrent in the same condition as Rowen, hollow and without a solid structure.

"Oh no. This wasn't supposed to happen!" Rowen exclaimed. "I thought that the bond wasn't complete enough to cause this!" Ryo just sat and stared at the pair of spirits and was overwhelmed by the events that had just occurred in front of him. His mind just shut down and allowed him to descend into unconsciousness while Sage was just achieving the opposite.

"Oh my gods," were the only words uttered by him before unconsciousness overwhelmed him once more. All Rowen and Sai could do was stare as the crowd of students finally decided to back away from the wall and question what had just took place…

   [1]: mailto:rowen_of_strata111@hotmail.com
   [2]: http://tenku_strata.homestead.com/Strata.html



	5. Part Five: The Introduction of New Foes

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata aka. Strata-chan

DICLAIMER: I do not own Ronin Warriors, Kendy or Maurette, so don't even THINK about suing me for money. Blah, blah, blah, etc and so forth. You know the rest, right? Everybody else in this story is mine, you hear? MINE! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Part 5:

The Introduction of New Foes

"Why do my plans always have to have a drawback! WHY?" Rowen yelled with great despair present in his voice. He had dropped to his knees as soon as Sai had walked up to him. "I'm so sorry, Sai. I really didn't mean for this to happen. Opanaroth must have created our bond faster than I originally planned."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Rowen. Look, there are more important things that need to be done. Kendy and Maurette need our help as do Sage, Kento and Ryo. Just because we have been detached from our physical forms doesn't mean that we are totally helpless." Sai started in an effort to ease the distressed Rowen. Sai saw Rowen's spirit rise and he seemed to have renewed hope within his eyes. 'My little speech wasn't that good. Maybe his sugar-high hasn't worn off yet, but that's impossible since he doesn't have his body anymore.' Sai thought to himself.

"You're right, but how do we deal with everyone else. They're certainly not going to leave us alone after what happened." Rowen stated after turning his gaze over to the advancing crowd of students.

"We're ghosts, remember. We can just scare the crap out of them and run, you know. They've already been frightened once and just the thought of being touched by a dead person should make them turn and run in the other direction. I just cringe at the thought. Just then, Rowen decided to make the most out of this situation and touched Sai. His reaction was priceless as he jumped about ten feet and cringed when he landed. "DON'T DO THAT, ROWEN! Maybe I should look on the bright side. At least you haven't lost your sense of humor." Sai stated quietly.

"That's right. I'll touch you again if we don't get moving soon, Sai." After Rowen said that, Sai just stared at him with a questioning look on his face. Rowen slowly moved in for the kill, but Sai knew better.

"If you do that again, I'll tell the whole school your little secret and then I'll prove it to them! Ha! Make up an answer to that one genius-boy!"

"What secret? I think you two have shown enough secrets for one day." Sai and Rowen both turned around to meet the voice. It happened to come from one of the students that had been in the crowd. "Well, explain yourselves. Now!"

"Ummmm." Rowen began. "Well, we…"

"…better get going now. Bye!" Sai completed that thought for Rowen as he received a nasty glare from him. "Come on!" The two ran off carrying all of their fallen comrades. Sai felt kind of strange looking at his own body, but those thoughts would have to wait until later. There were more important things to worry about now. First of which was to figure out how to get Rowen's body back and that would be a tough task.

*****

Kendy awoke with a splitting headache as her eyes opened to a bright while light.

"You didn't expect that now did you, Quasar." Kendy closed her eyes again so she wouldn't lose her sight, but she was very curious about that voice and she wanted to know who the heck this Quasar person was. It wasn't Opanaroth because it sounded too feminine. Unless, he could disguise himself, but that was highly unlikely. As the light dimmed, Kendy opened her eyes to find herself with a small chamber. At first she couldn't move at all, but the strange grip on her was released after a few seconds of struggling.

"Pathetic. I thought the children of Maelstrom and Quasar were supposed to be more powerful than this."

'There's that strange voice again. Damn! I wish I could see better. That light damaged my vision. I should have known better. I can be so idiotic sometimes!' Kendy scolded within her mind.

"Awwww. That's no way to treat yourself now is it? That is the sad truth though. Reality is so full of suffering now isn't it?"

'Alright. I'm tired of this game.' Kendy thought to herself "Show yourself!"

"I'd be glad to and this is no game to you, Quasar." Just as that was said, a figure materialized in front of Kendy. Kendy was shocked to see that the voice actually did come from a woman. She was like nothing she had ever seen before. She had blond hair that was cut very short and she had the most piercing blue eyes. They looked like they could look straight through your soul. Her face was sleek and seemed to be rid of any human imperfections, until your eyes fell upon the eye patch she wore. She was wearing a crimson kimono that was covered with the designs of black flames around the edges. There was a dark angel imprinted on the front of the garment and Kendy wondered what it meant.

"It means I'm the angel of mendacity." Kendy looked at the woman with a look of confusion since she had never been really good at vocabulary. "Ignorant whelp. Mendacity means deception and lies. Don't even relate me to that fool, Dais. My armor is ten times more powerful than his could ever be."

"Who's Dais?"

"You mean Strata didn't tell you? Don't you even remember what happened before you came here?"

"Who's Strata? Why do you keep calling me Quasar and who the hell are you!"

"You should learn to control your temper. I am called Diana and I bear the armor of Mendacity. Quasar was your ancestor and you should be the bearer of her armor! Why don't you summon it and give me a challenge?" Diana demanded as she walked towards Kendy.

"You still didn't answer my first question, Diana! WHO IS STRATA?!" Kendy screamed as the demon was almost upon her.

"Take a wild guess." Silence reigned for a few moments as Kendy waited for Diana to give her the answer. "I'm not sensing any brain activity, Quasar. Give it your best shot."

"Just tell me the answer, damn it!"

"Such vulgar language. Tisk. Tisk. It's someone very close to you. He has blue hair and….."

"Rowen!? Why did he hide this from me? That prick. I'll teach him a thing or two when I get back."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere. You armor needs to be awakened first." Diana stated as she used her telekinetic powers to slam Kendy back into her previous state of paralysis. I'll be watching you, Quasar. I will read every thought you create. I will see every movement you make. You cannot escape, Quasar. You have not even begun to see my true power!" Diana threatened as she left Kendy behind.

'I'll get you, Diana. Just you wait. Rowen will help me, but first I need to have my so-called 'powers' awakened. Then it'll be the end for you.' Kendy said as she fumed her anger. "YOU HEAR ME, DEMON! I'LL GET YOU!"

*****

"Wake up and smell the sweet smell of the dungeon, dearie."

"I don't wanna go to school today, mommy." Maurette murmured as she started to come back to consciousness.

"It's a Saturday, dearie. Now, come on and come back to consciousness. There you go." 

With those words, Maurette finally came back to consciousness. She looked around for the place where the voice came from and tried to go to it, but she couldn't move. It was like someone was holding her in place.

"Who are you? Are you a friend or foe?"

"I'm whatever I chose to be."

'Hmmm. This is quite a puzzle. I hate being so unsure about this! It's so frustrating!'

"Speak up! Come on! I'm becoming very impatient here."

"Will you shut up already! I'm trying to think about how come I can't think straight and why I'm paralyzed!"

The voice then chuckled condescendingly, "I know why since I'm the one causing that sensation."

"Wha….."

A figure then materialized in front of Kendy. She had flaming red hair that flowed freely in the dank air of the dungeon. Her eyes were a piercing silver color and her face had a scar that ran from her left eye to the base of her neck. Her kimono has several ancient symbols on it, but Maurette was unable to decipher them.

"Oh, don't try to think so hard, Maelstrom. You'll find out who I am soon enough." With that, the mysterious figure left the room, leaving Maurette to her thoughts.

"Why me? What did I do?" Maurette yelled into the darkness. 'If I don't find out who that woman is and why she called me Maelstrom, I'm going to go crazy! I wonder if Kendy's alright.' Just then, a scream was heard throughout the corridors. "Oh no! KENDY!"

*****

Rowen suddenly dropped to the ground, which caused Ryo and Sage to be dropped as well. Once on the ground he did not stir until Sai came and nudged him a little. Rowen was panting heavily while trying to sit up.

"What happened back there?"

"I don't know. I just don't know!" Rowen said with exasperation present in his tone of voice. "Nothing seems right! Why am I so confused?"

"Calm down, Rowen. You aren't making any sense. Just clear your head."

"You can't possibly understand these feelings."

"Rowen, what's going on with you? You're going crazy!"

"The memories. The memories of everything! EVERYTHING! I don't want to remember! I don't want to…." Rowen then mysteriously passed out, leaving Sai with nothing but his confused thoughts and scattered plans about how to get back to Mia's.


	6. Part Six: Unwelcome Remembrances

The Darkness Returns Once Again

By: Rowen of Strata aka. Strata-chan

Note: In this chapter, there are a few places where I have inserted incantations. These are not real ones. I have used some basic Sanskrit words and garbled them up for my purposes.

Part 6: Unwelcome Remembrances

Sai just looked at his fallen friend with a look of horror written across his face. "

"How could this happen to me at a time like this? Does being the oldest always have this type of drawback?" Sai stated as he tried to lift Rowen from the ground. To his amazement, his hand passed right through. Sure, he was a spirit, but he had always been able to touch others and Rowen before without a problem. Just then, Rowen's kanji appeared and his eyes snapped open.

"Rowen? Oh, thank the gods. I thought you were dead or something." Sai then looked at the blank expression on Rowen's face as he just lied on the ground. "Ro-chan? Are you okay?" Just then, a bright light came from Rowen and blinded Sai while he tried to watch the events that were unfolding before his eyes. Rowen then stood up and said a few words in a language that was incomprehensible and then disappeared, leaving Sai dazed on the ground.

***

Maurette was frantically trying to free herself from the paralysis spell that had been placed upon her, but she was unsuccessful in all of her attempts.

"Darn it! I need to get out of here, but can I? No. Course not. This stuff is just my cup of tea. You hear that! I'm enjoying myself!" Maurette yelled sarcastically into the darkness. 'If I could only see.'

Meanwhile, Kento of Hardrock was sitting in a dank cell on the other side of the dungeon and was wondering the same exact thing. "What the hell happened back there? I mean, one minute I'm at school and the next, I find myself here without my orb. If I'm here, then where are the others and…." Kento was interrupted mid-thought when a voice called for him and his true self was imprisoned within the confines of his mind once again. The guards then opened the cell and he walked out and headed for some unknown destination.

***

"No." A small voice cried out into the darkness. "I don't want to remember. Not anymore." Kendy slumped forward as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Good. The transformation should take place shortly," stated Diana as she walked away. "Morgana! Place the next incantation on her so the next step of the transformation can take place properly."

"Who are you to boss me around? Hmm? You're of my same rank."

"Just do it. You wouldn't want it to get too messy in there, now would you?"

"Don't even remind me." Morgana snapped back as she walked towards the dungeon. 'Stupid woman. I'll get her back for all of this some day.'

As Morgana walked in the room, she saw Kendy was beginning to glow an eerie black hue. "It's a good thing I got here when I did. It's already starting. Now, for the incantation. What was it? Oh yes. Shri maha swaha ko phat!" The glowing then left Kendy and started to swirl around her. The cloud that formed engulfed her entire body and began to seep into her body in order to awaken her sleeping powers. Maurette turned away and began to walk away when she heard someone clapping.

"Bravo! I couldn't have done better myself."

"You know, you get on my nerves, Diana."

"That's my job, you know. I'm just here to get on your nerves and nothing else." Diana said sarcastically as she waved off Morgana, leaving her to fume alone.

***

Inside of Kendy's mind:

A little girl stopped running after hours of doing so. She leaned against a tree for support, but could not stop for long. It was coming for her. Following her every movement and breath. It was like an inescapable oppression. Fear. Hatred. Yes, hatred was what that monster was. Hatred for her very being in this life. Hatred for being who she was when she was. Hatred….

Just then, a hand grabbed the little girl and dragged her back to its den. The girl wanted to run, but she couldn't. It just kept grabbing her tighter and tighter until she could barely breathe. A few minutes later she was thrown down on to a hardened floor.

"You useless brat! What do we not do for you? Is this house not enough? Ungrateful little thing. That's precisely why you don't deserve a name."

"You are nothing but an accident. Nothing whatsoever. A great pile of nothing! Why should we bother to name you," another person in the room spoke and then threw some type of object at the girl, who was cringing in the corner, terrified. She then stood up, against her own body's will, and spoke.

"If you hate me so much, then why don't you get rid of me?"

"Because no one wants you. Who would want a problem child, such as yourself? You cause nothing but problems."

"You cause so much pain and poverty. You are a freak! Who needs the problems that a freak brings? Hmm? Why don't you answer if you are so smart? Oh, I forgot. You can't go to school," stated the other figure while laughing in a cruel manner. "You couldn't control yourself in school even if you wanted to!"

"Did you think we were going to hire a special sensei? Just for you? You certainly have a huge ego."

"Lies! All of those statements are lies! You are both liars! I'm not what you say I am! I'll never be worthless! NEVER!" 

The little girl then sniffled after her outburst and then began to glow a strange black color. This gentle radiance began to swirl around her and became larger. She ignored the terrified cries of the people who called themselves her parents and forced the whirling mass to become greater still. The cloud began to swell and she forced it to engulf them, causing her parents to disappear into a great void, never to be seen again. The girl then collapsed, panting and crying as she heard a police car come from outside.

The officers, who had been keeping the house under surveillance for the past few weeks, walked in to discover the inside of the house was in tattered remains, which was totally unfit for the little child who was sobbing in the corner. They walked over to her and discovered that she had several scratches on her back. It looked as if she had been thrown several times before the old scratches could heal, which explained some light scarring that was found as well. The officer that was the closest to her tried to comfort the girl, but stepped back in horror at what he saw.

The girl's eyes had turned completely black. It was like looking into a black hole, which caused a person to not be able to pull away from it. The man and the girl just sat for several minutes, waiting for someone to blink….someone to..

"Michael? Michael! Hello? Earth to Michael," stated another officer as he walked up to his companion. "Are you even in there? What the hell?" The officer saw that his friend's eyes had turned a mysterious hue. A sort of midnight blue hue and he was staring blankly into the girl's eyes. It was like a black hole. It was pulling him in. There was no escape……The man gave himself a mental slap and went to help his friend. He managed to get him away from those mystifying eyes and shook him back into the world of the fully conscious.

"Where am I? Who are you? What am I doing in these ridiculous clothes," the man stated as he pulled at his clothes. "While I'm asking, who am I?" The other officer reeled back and looked at the girl. She still sat in the corner, staring at his companion with her ebony eyes. He thought he saw a grin pass over her face, but it passed before he could make out the expression.

"You….what are you?"

"I am a freak. A freak that no one wants. I am nothing…nothing to concern yourself with…."

"Don't give me that," snapped the officer as he approached the child. "I want some answers and you are going to give them to me!"

"I am stupid. I hold no information that you could possibly want," stated the girl as she turned away from he offender. "I am nothing…Nothing! I will never be something and it's all because of people like you!" Her temper flared and that same eerie black luminance surrounded the girl as she was released from the man's grip. "I can never trust people like you! All you want to do is hurt me and hate me and laugh at me! I am a freak and no one can understand me," wailed the child as the small glow turned into a giant storm once again. The officer ran over to his dazed companion, who was just beginning to regain his memory, and helped out the door.

"I never thought that a monster such as you would ever exist," yelled the man as he shoved his companion and himself into the car and drove off. They left just in time because the house was then destroyed by the child's rage a few seconds later. The little girl collapsed from sheer exhaustion and pain after her outburst and would have been proclaimed dead if it weren't for the streams of tears running down her face and her ragged breathing pattern. Her mind was in turmoil and it seemed that no one could rescue her from this pit of despair. Just then, a light appeared from the forest.

This light was not a normal sunbeam, because it would be several hours before sunrise arrived. It was also too bright to be a normal occurrence because the forest around it was so dense. It filled the entire area with a sense of hope and life. It hovered for a few seconds before floating over towards the fallen form of the child and lifted her up into the air.

"You are too young for this responsibility. Why did the gods give you such abilities at such a young age? No child should have to bear the responsibility of being a descendant of Quasar. No adult either. Shatim guram devitna hri. Child, this barrier can only protect you for so long. Once you reach a certain age, the spell will wear off and an evil called the Dynasty will search for you. You must not allow them to reawaken these powers. It will cause your destruction along with many others. You won't be able to control your own abilities. Please, do not allow this to become your fate. Now, I must erase your memory as well, my child. Then, I cannot do anything more for you. Forgive me."

With that statement, the luminance then erased the girl's mind and left her on top of a pile of rubble. The child then awoke and sat among the shards of wood for many moments until she rose from her seat and left the area. She walked through the woods in a trance. Not remembering where she was or who she was or what her purpose in life was. Her blue eyes skipped around the forest, yearning to find a way out. After what seemed like hours of endless walking, a beam of sunlight shone through a patch of trees ahead of her. Like a drowning animal striving for air, she raced toward it and savored the light once she reached it. She found herself staring at an open meadow and was watching the waves of wind play games with the long blades of golden grass.

The girl's eyes lit up with a sparkle of life that had never been seen in them before. She leaped into the glass and she felt as if she was in Heaven. Swimming in an endless sea of hope was what it felt like. 'Why do I feel so happy,' thought the child as she lay in a patch of the golden radiance. 'Is this an experience I never had before,' she pondered as she looked up into the cloudless sky. She sat and just enjoyed letting the hours go by, but soon the sun set and it began to get cold. The child was in no condition to be out in the cold, due to the fact that half of her clothes were in shreds.

She forced herself from her pleasant leisure and started to walk through the meadow, which led to more dense woods. Wandering for a few minutes in the forest was enough to make the girl weary and she strained her eyes in order to find a descent place to sleep. A large tree loomed in front of her and she decided that would be a great place to sleep. She laid herself beside the trunk and made a little bed of leaves for herself before falling into a troubled slumber.

__

'So many people. Where am I. Who are these people?' The child walked around the area, hoping that she would find a familiar face, but was unsuccessful. Just then, a large explosion occurred somewhere down the street. Everyone around her screamed and started to run away from the blast area in fear. The girl struggled to get herself out of the crowd, but soon found herself on the ground. There were people everywhere! She felt like she was being trampled, even though no feet were touching her. 'Claustrophobia'. She had heard the term once and now she knew what it was like. It was like ten million hammers were pounding away at her body. Slowly pushing her into the ground. The child closed her eyes and hoped for this sensation to just stop. Then, in an instant, the pounding did so. No more screams could be heard and the air was completely silent.

The child opened her eyes and discovered that everyone had just…..gone. All there was left was a lone newspaper that was blown across the street by the wind. 'Strange. What happened? Where'd everybody go?' She got up from the ground and decided to explore a bit. When she walked a few yards, she saw some people fading in and out of existence. It looked like they were battling someone, but the figures were all distorted. Sort of like a television signal that was being transmitted, but was garbled by solar activity. As the girl walked closer, she saw five…no six figures and they were becoming clearer with each step she took. Voices could be heard from them now. Yes. There were definitely six figures now and the previous distortions had vanished.

Sounds of metal clashing against metal and painful agony resounded through the air as she became closer to the ongoing battle. She could also make out that five of the six figures were dressed in some type of weird clothing. Before any other realizations came to the child, she noticed that the sixth figure began to laugh. 'Why is that lady laughing? I don't see anything funny about this.' She then saw the woman emit some type of black glow and it started to spread. As it engulfed the other five, she heard several screams of agony and pain. When the smoke cleared, she saw that the five figures that had been engulfed in the cloud had collapsed to the ground.

'No! Why did that mean lady hurt them,' thought the child as she ran towards one of the fallen figures. She picked the one with blue hair, since he seemed to be the closest to her.

"Hey! Are you alright," yelled the girl, but she received no response. She tried to touch him, but her hands passed right through his body. 'What? Why did that happen?' Before the girl knew what was happening, the woman that had caused all this pain approached the ma she was sitting by. 'Oh no! I have to do something!'

"I won't allow you to hurt him!" The woman still advanced like she hadn't heard those commands. "If you come any closer, I'll have to do something bad to you," stated the girl, nervously. Still, no response. The little child prepared to defend the man by getting into a battle stance that she had created a moment or so ago. The offender still advanced upon the duo, only to pass right through the child and begin torturing her true target.

"Hey! Stop it," the girl yelled as tears started running down her cheeks. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it," she repeated as she began an assault on the woman by trying to hit her repeatedly. The girl didn't care that her hand went right through her each time. In the middle of the child's assault, another hand grabbed hers, stopping her useless aggression. The child looked away from the event unfolding in front of her and up into the eyes of the most beautiful angel she had ever seen. Her long white hair flowed in the wind and her pale face was a contrast to the world filled with darkness around her. All of the sounds of pain and laughter faded into oblivion as the heavenly spirit stood in place. She spoke with the gentlest voice the child had ever heard and it was like a river of peace had flowed over the entire area.

"My dear child. I have placed this event in your memory for a reason."

"You put this memory here? Why? It's…it's so horrible," the child stated as she looked back upon the woman who was now frozen in place over the blue-haired man.

"That woman, the one with the blue and brown hair like your own, is your future self."

The girl's mouth dropped open in shock as she looked back upon herself and the other warriors surrounding her. A single tear rolled down her face and she looked back upon the angel with a look of pure sorrow. "This can't be right! You have the wrong person. I can't do this. I just can't," the child bawled as she collapsed to the ground with overwhelming sorrow.

The angel bent down so that her face was level with the child's. "You must accept the fact that this will happen. This is your fate. You will be faced with the choice of becoming the destroyer of worlds. I tried to make this as easy on you as possible, but this point remains unchanged. You can change the outcome though."

"Really," he child asked as a glimmer of hope appeared on her face.

"Yes. You can prevent a thing called the Dynasty from taking your heart and corrupting it. You must not let them catch you. That's all you will remember from this dream. I have made it be that way."

"Why?"

The angel got up from the ground and began to leave. "I am not allowed to change the future. No one is. Leaving this memory here would do that. Just remembering that one phrase, but not knowing what the Dynasty is will not change anything."

"But…wait! Come back! I don't want to be alone," the girl yelled as everything faded into white…

"Don't leave me. No. Come back." The girl awoke with a start and accidentally bumped her head on a tree branch in the process. She grumbled a little and rose from her bed of leaves. Noticing that it was still in the middle of the night, the girl decided that she should go back to sleep. A half-hour passed and she could not get her body to relax. Finally, she gave up and started to walk through the forest. 'There has to be some people somewhere around here,' she thought as she pushed some branches out of her way. 'How big can a forest be anyway?' Just then, the child heard something growl in the bushes. 'What was that?'

"Hello? Who…who's out there," the child stuttered as she looked around frantically for whatever thing that was causing the disturbance. The bushes moved again and a wolf pack emerged from them. 'Oh crud,' she thought as she began to run with them hot on her heels. One managed to get a hold on her arm and pulled her down to the ground.

"No," the girl yelled in defiance as well as pain. "Get off me! You're hurting my arm!" She then used her legs to push the wolf off of her and she began to run again. The wolves began to do the same and they were soon upon her heels again. "Leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you," she screamed in desperation. Just then, the girl stumbled onto a road, which caused the wolves to cringe in fear. Relieved, the girl picked herself up from the road and directly into the headlights of an on-coming car. Before she knew what was happening, she was on the ground. Everything slowly became black as she saw several eyes appear above her.

"I'm surprised that the amount of damage done to her body was minimal. That impact with the car should have been deadly, but I guess she has a guardian angel watching over her." The child smiled a little at those words, even though she really didn't know why she was doing so, and fell back into unconsciousness.

A couple of weeks later, the girl was released into the hands of……some person that she didn't know. She heard that doctors talking about her being an orphan and that she had to go to some place called an orphanage. The child had no idea of what that was, but she thought it had to be a good place. Once they had reached the "orphanage", the child wasn't sure what to think. 'Maybe it's better on the inside,' she thought as she was led to the doorstep. When she walked inside, her thoughts were answered, but not in the way she had hoped. There were several beds lined up together, which made a single corridor for people to walk through. Some children were studying in one area of the room while others were playing with some very old toys while others were playing with some very old toys. The uniforms they all wore were just awful. They made the older children look immature and the younger ones like chibi Sailor Senshi.

"I'll go get you a uniform and while I'm gone, make sure to make some friends and keep yourself occupied." With that, the woman was gone. The child walked over to a few children and tried to play with them, but was only shunned away. She tried this with several others, but there was always the same result. The girl's eyes began to fill with tears as she walked, dejectedly, over to a corner and sobbed for a long time. There was one child that saw this happen and she felt that she needed to do something. She walked over to the child and comforted her.

"Everything's going to be okay. You'll really like it here after a while. By the way, my name's Maurette. What's yours?"

"My name? What's a name? I've never heard of that word before. What is it?"

"You mean, you never received a name? Did you ever have parents at all? I don't remember mine since I was two when they died."

The child's eyes began to flood with tears once again at this point. "I don't know. I just don't know! I don't remember anything before the meadow and the wolves and the hospital and…." She could tell no more as soon as her emotions took over. She took a hold of Maurette and sobbed into her shoulder.

"It's okay. Go ahead and cry. It's gonna be okay." Maurette thought for a moment. "Why don't we name you Kendy? I heard some people talking one day about my parents and they said that my mother's name was Kendy. I think it's a really pretty name, which is a really good name for someone as pretty as you are." Maurette smiled as the child looked up and smiled at her.

"I love it. Kendy it is then!" That's when the entire scene went black.

***

Kendy awoke in a world of darkness. She didn't have the slightest clue as to where she was or how she got there, but one thing was for sure. This was reality.

"Wondering where you are, Quasar," a voice questioned from the darkness. Then Diana appeared, or more like faded in. "You're part of us now. Sure, your soul cannot be corrupted, but we can corrupt your mind, which was precisely what we did. The funny part is that we did it with your own power." Diana then started to laugh at the entire predicament that Kendy was in, but stopped as she avoided a futile attack from her opponent. "Tisk tisk. Such bad aim."

Kendy rose from the floor and prepared for another attack when she realized that there was nothing she could do. "I'll get you later for this, Diana. I'll get that bastard that you call your master too."

"You must have forgotten that he has YOUR boyfriend's body. Are you calling him a bastard? That isn't very lady-like of you."

"How would you know what it lady-like and what isn't. Also, that THING is not my boyfriend. MY boyfriend is out there and away from this place and your master. He will never be that demon. NEVER! I'LL MAKE SURE OF THAT TOO!"

"Oh, really? Well, you can't really do much when you are confined within your own mind, now can you?" Diana then left Kendy to herself, laughing as she went.

"When I regain control of my mind, I'll make sure you are the first to pay, Diana. You will pay dearly too," Kendy vowed as she stared into the darkness.

***

'Almost there,' Sai thought as he approached the doorstep of the Koji household. 'I'm actually going to make it!' It had seemed like an eternity ever since he had been forced to carry both Sage and Ryo back to the house.

"Man, you two really need to lose some weight," Sai said as he removed the two from his back. "So do I," he thought as he removed his own body from his back. He also noticed how pale and gaunt he was looking as well. 'I really need to figure out how to get back into my body, or I'm going to end up staying this way forever. Sai shuddered at the thought and proceeded to carry everyone into the house.

"Hello? Mia? Yuli? Whiteblaze? Hmm….I wonder where everyone is. I guess I'll have to wonder later. Now, to get everyone inside and up the stairs somehow." As Sai lifted up his own body, he felt a surge of pain course through himself. 'What? I don't have a body, so how can I feel pain unless…it's not mine. It has to be…' Sai trailed off as the pain subsided. "Well," Sai stated, trying to put some humor into the situation, "at least we had an exciting day at school, for once."

***

In the Dynasty throne-room, there were three figures sitting and waiting. One held a staff and wore a dark orange armor. Another had blue hair and looked like he was a prisoner of the one sitting above him. The last has the same exact look at the first, only more solid in form. His features looked gaunt and cadaverous, which would have made people assume he had not eaten in weeks. His red eyes would have bore straight through your soul and made it tremble in fear.

"Quasar is almost done with her transformation. Hardrock, please prepare the other subject for her transformation. Diana and Morgana will join you shortly after that."

"Yes Master." With that, Kento left the room and headed for Maurette's cell.

"As for you, Strata. I need to find some way to reconnect you with this body. I would have had you earlier this evening, but your distance made it impossible to complete the process. I will have this body whole soon enough though. Just you wait. I will control this world." Opanaroth chuckled condescendingly as he watched the events in his dungeon unfold.


End file.
